The Waynesboro City Council will vote on August 10th at 7:00 pm on the rezoning of 0 Tiffany Drive. The property is currently zoned for highway business and single-family residential. Riverbend development would like to zone the property to general residential and multi-family residential.

Riverbend Development would like to add 600 units to our neighborhood. Most of these units would be housed in several multi-family housing units.

I live in the Walnut Grove Farm neighborhood. I have a couple of concerns about the rezoning of 0 Tiffany Drive. First, I want to state that I agree that it should be rezoned to residential. I have a problem with multi-family units due to the following concerns.

My first concern is the traffic. Rosser Avenue already has a lot of traffic due to Walmart, Martins, and other various businesses. What will the city do to make sure we do not have gridlock with the increase in housing units? The developer’s research estimated that 3500 vehicles go through Tiffany Drive per day. What is going to happen when they add 600 units? They also stated that 12,000 vehicles drive on Rosser Avenue per day. Traffic is already heavy in the morning and afternoon. Adding 600 units will not make it any better.

My second concern is the wastewater and sewer issue. The land they want to develop is wet and marshy. I don't think the current plan will adequately deal with the runoff with high-density residential units. How will they protect the existing eco-system and historic Pratts Run creek? There is plenty of wildlife on this land. It would be terrible if all the wildlife were displaced due to this development.

My last concern is the integration of the existing neighborhood. As of right now, the existing surrounding communities are all zoned for RS-7 and RS-12 single-family homes. The advent of multi-family high rises will take away the charm and character of the existing surrounding neighborhoods. Our neighborhood is unique. I would describe it as "country living in the city." It would be a tragedy for this special charm to be destroyed.

Please join me by signing this petition to protect the charm and wildlife of our current neighborhood and prevent major traffic backups.  Sign this petition to keep our neighborhood a low-density community.